


Some names will always taste bitter

by smaragdbird



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Getting Together, Missing Scene, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 01:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18400337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: Ahsoka reunites with the Ghost Crew after Ezra pulled her from her fight with Darth Vader.For her it has only been a few hoursFor them is has been two years





	Some names will always taste bitter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SecretSingerOfAll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretSingerOfAll/gifts).



Ahsoka hesitated before she opened her commlink. For the others two years had passed since the battle on Malachor. Ezra had briefly told her how the war was going but that didn’t tell her anything about how they would feel about her return. They had thought she was dead, had mourned her and let her go.

Her thoughts turned to Rex. Was he still alive? Ezra hadn’t told her and given the situation they had been, she had forgot to ask. Should she tell him who Darth Vader really was? He had been Anakin’s friend, too. He deserved to know the truth. But a part of her feared that it would be selfish of her to tell Rex. It would mean that she would no longer be the only one to know but it would also cause him pain. And would it change anything if he knew? 

Maybe she should let the past lie. 

It was the Ghost that picked her up and her heart felt lighter at the sight of the familiar ship, even if it had seen better days. Something was wrong though; she could feel it in the Force as the ship approached.

Something was missing. 

Or rather someone.

She couldn’t feel Kanan or Ezra. That didn’t have to mean anything, she reminded herself as the ship landed. Maybe they had been called away for a different mission. 

The moment she saw Hera’s face, Ahsoka knew that she had only been in denial of the truth to protect herself from the pain for a little longer. Ahsoka threw her arms around Hera and hugged her tight.

“I’m sorry”, she whispered, despite how inadequate those words were but they were the best she had.

“I’m sorry, too”, Hera replied, hugging her back before pulling away. Over her shoulder, Ahsoka could see the Ghost’s other crew members. 

“Ahsoka!” Sabine rushed forwards to greet her as well, her hair and armour coloured differently than the last time Ahsoka had seen her.

“How did you make it out?” Zeb asked, drawing her into an easy hug, wearing a smile and the rank insignia of the Rebellion that told her he was a captain once more.

“It’s a long story”, Ahsoka replied. There was a man lingering by the entry platform. She could have sworn that he was the ISB agent that had been assigned to hunt down the Ghost and her crew. “But I think I’m not the only one.”

“Oh yeah, that’s Kallus”, Zeb said, waving him over. “He was Fulcrum after you disappeared and then defected.”

“I’m afraid I didn’t leave a good impression the last time we met”, Kallus said, standing next to Zeb.

“First impressions can be deceiving”, Ahsoka replied and offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Fulcrum.”

“Likewise,” Kallus said and shook her hand. He had a nice, firm grip.

“Hera, where is Rex?” Ahsoka turned her with the question she had been dreading since coming here. 

“He’s on board”, Hera replied. “He said he didn’t want to embarrass the manly image we have of him by starting to cry, and yes those were his exact words.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes fondly. As if it was Rex who would start crying. “Let’s go then. I’ve had enough of this place.”

/

She found Rex in the cargo hold. The others had let her go with the promise that they would exchange stories later but they all understood her need to reconnect to her oldest friend.

“Hey, Rexster”, she said, her voice wavering. After everything that had happened, she was so incredibly grateful to see him again.

“And here I thought I would have to wait at least another decade to see you again, kid”, Rex replied as he crossed the distance between them. “Glad you’re early.”

And then his arms were around here and Ahsoka pressed her face into his neck and started to cry. Sobs were wrecking her whole body, leaving her shaking like a leaf in his embrace. And Rex just let her, he didn’t ask any questions or tried to comfort her with words. He just held her.

Eventually Ahsoka withdrew, feeling lighter than she had in years. The Jedi Order would have made her belief that letting go of herself was a bad thing, that uncontrolled emotions were a sign of the Dark Side but not for the first time, Ahsoka realised that it was one of many things the Order had been wrong about.

“Feeling better?” Rex asked as she wiped the tear tracks from her blotchy face.

“Yes, thank you”, she replied, even managing to give him a smile.

“Did they tell you?” Rex asked because he had never been one to pull his punches and Ahsoka loved him for it. “About Ezra and Kanan?”

“They didn’t have to tell me”, Ahsoka replied. “I could feel it when the ship approached and when I saw Hera’s face…I knew.”

“I was only there for Ezra but what he did, calling the Purgills to take him and Thrawn’s entire Star Destroyer into hyperspace…that was Skywalker levels of daring.”

Just hearing Anakin’s name put a twinge in her heart. “Rex-“

“Yes?”

“There something I have to tell you.”

The Jedi Order had talked about truth as if it was something pure, something liberating, but this truth was nothing like that. To know what Anakin had become, so long after they had mourned him with all the others, was the worst kind of knowledge.

Ahsoka could see the pain it was causing on Rex’s face, could feel it echo through the Force like she had felt the loss of Kanan and Ezra.

“Damn, kid, that…” Rex trailed off, at loss for words. “I want to say you’re wrong somehow but…”

She nodded. “but there was always so much anger in him.”

“It got worse after you left”, Rex said. “I don’t think he could deal with it.”

“When I heard that Senator Amidala had died, I was glad that he was dead too”, Ashoka confessed. “I didn’t think he would’ve dealt well with her loss.”

“Do you think that’s what pushed him over the edge?” Rex asked, wrapping his arm over Ahsoka’s shoulders. “Her death?”

“Maybe it was all of it together. The war, me leaving, Padme’s death…Order 66…”, she glanced at him. They had never talked about it although Ahsoka knew that Rex had gotten rid of the biochip that had forced the clones to turn on the Jedi. What she didn’t know was whether that had happened before or after Order 66 had been given. “Perhaps it was easier just to given in to all that anger he held inside.”

“When you didn’t come back from Malachor…I thought he had killed you”, Rex said after some time had passed, both of them contemplating their thoughts about Anakin in silence.

“He tried to”, Ahsoka confessed. “And he would have if Ezra hadn’t saved me. Not the Ezra that went into the temple with us”, she added when Rex gave a confused look. “It was another Ezra, from another time. He had found a path through time and space in the Force and used it to pull me to safety.”

“That sounds complicated.”

Ahsoka giggled. “It is and yet at the same time, it isn’t. The Force connects all things in the universe.”

“Could you use it to undo other things?”

“I’m not sure”, Ahsoka confessed. “I’m not even sure I could find it again. There is so much more about the Force that neither the Jedi nor the Sith understand.”

“You could put it on your list of things to do after the war is over”, Rex said lightly. Under his arm Ahsoka felt small and warm and safe, like she had when she had been a Padawan, both of them so young and naïve. She leaned against him, her head resting in the hollow of his neck.

“I would rather focus on things I could do now”, Ahsoka said, threading her dingers with his.

“You’ve got something particular in mind?” He tried to sound normal but she had known him long enough to hear the little waver there.

“You were the first person I thought about when I returned from the Force”, she said, having never felt braver in her life. “You were the last person I thought about before we entered that Temple, too.”

“Can’t say it wasn’t the same for me”, Rex replied. “You are going to outlive me, Ahsoka.”

“You don’t know that”, Ahsoka replied. “We’re at war, who knows how long any of us have to live? And I am not Anakin. I’m not afraid of loss. Even if I never saw you again after today, losing you would still hurt.”

“Relax, Ahsoka, this is not an argument I was trying to win anyway”, Rex chuckled at her passionate speech. He took their tangled hands and pressed a kiss to the back of hers. “Do you believe me?”

“I believe you.”


End file.
